PORT GIBSON — For 20 years, Celeste Spencer has awakened to lopsided pictures hanging on the walls of her Church Street home. The vibrations and noises from the street’s other name — U.S. 61 — have often caused her to stir and even fear for her life. But, if given a choice, she’d prefer to keep it that way.

The 87-year-old Port Gibson native fears losing her home, about 20 feet from the highway, to the proposed widening of the roadway through the historic town, which she believes would leave her searching for a new place to live.

For many years, the Mississippi Department of Transportation has been wrangling with locals about the future of one of the nation’s most famous highways, which stretches from New Orleans to Chicago.

Expectations are that later this month MDOT may announce it intends to end discussion of a bypass east or west of the historic area and simply widen the existing route right which is already four-lane and tracks right through the middle of Port Gibson High. Interestingly, Dick Hall, the elected highway commissioner for the Central District, and one of three members of the state Transportation Commission, described himself as “vehemently opposed” to what his fellow commissioners may do.

“I am totally opposed. It’s an unusual situation,” Hall said. “I hope the community will turn out in mass and send a very clear message.”

Hall has openly been at odds with Northern District Commissioner Bill Minor, Southern District Commissioner Wayne Brown and MDOT executive director Butch Brown on many topics. They have the power to out-vote him, even in his district.

Church Street is lined by homes, trees and, as the name implies, churches. Keeping a wider, busier thoroughfare from plowing through the town is an issue a group of locals intends to fight “tooth and nail,” said Jane Ellis, chairman of the Highway 61 committee of the Port Gibson Heritage Trust.

Work on modernizing U.S. 61 has been a 20-year project in Mississippi, much of which has been completed. The goal of the state’s initiative was to build 1,077 miles of four-lane highway, much of it along U.S. 61, over a 14-year period to ensure every Mississippian would be linked to a four-lane highway within 30 miles. A fourth phase was added to the plan in 2002 as the Vision 21 program, which included four-laning 61 North from Redwood to Vicksburg and from Vicksburg south through Port Gibson, Natchez and farther south. The portion of U.S. 61 through or around Port Gibson is the last in the plan to be completed.

Creating a bypass that would send traffic around the town has been an option that MDOT has proposed in addition to going through Church Street over the years and one Hall has supported. Plans have included at least eight different routes, but locals have not been able to agree on a solution.

The Highway 61 committee, formed last March in response to a meeting former Mayor Amelda Arnold and the Board of Aldermen had with Brown that resulted in the decision to run U.S. 61 along Church Street, has agreed on a different route.

“Ideally, what we’d like is a bypass to the east and as close to town as possible to leave room for industry,” said Ellis, whose family has lived in Port Gibson for eight generations. “Church Street is packed with churches and businesses. There’s no room for expansion. The other way — there’s room for whatever.”

Plenty of people opposing the bypass have also spoken up. Most would like to see the highway come straight through the town, which they contend would bring higher traffic counts through and would increase tourism.

Ellis and her group, however, believe tourism would die as a result of the highway running along Church Street.

“We are a tourism destination between Vicksburg and Natchez. We have a lot of bus tours and tourists in cars,” she said. “People like to stop and walk up and down the street and go into the churches. If they can’t park on Church Street, they’re not going to do that. That’s one of our biggest concerns.”

Originally in favor of a bypass, Arnold and the Board of Aldermen, in addition to the Claiborne County Board of Supervisors, have voiced desires to have the highway go through the town. Mayor Fred Reeves, who unseated Arnold in the city’s November Democratic Primary, is on board to see a bypass and has attended meetings with the Highway 61 committee to see that MDOT grants that wish.

As part of the fight, the group requested a Section 106 Review, a tool to help people when federal actions will affect properties that qualify for the National Register for Historic Places.

“That would give us a voice in the decision-making,” Ellis said.

They also contacted the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, who, in turn, told the Jackson office of the Federal Highway Administration not to proceed with any action affecting historic properties until a review was made. Ellis said MDOT decided to proceed, instead, without using federal money, which would keep them from having to follow federal guidelines.

The group, which has about 54 active members, has attended meetings, sent letters and taken a stand against the proposed section of highway coming through the town. They have also hired an environmental lawyer, Keith Turner with Watkins, Ludlum, Winter and Stennis in Jackson, to try to obtain information from MDOT.

“He found out it’s pretty much like pulling teeth. He’s had to dig through the files,” Ellis said.

The committee was able to find a tree study that was performed last fall on the live oaks, magnolias and maples that tower over Church Street. The results pointed to scenarios that would be detrimental to the trees, planted in the 1930s or before, Ellis said. The roots are grounded under the pavement, which would be removed to construct the new street, she added.

Another concern is the fate of the churches, many of which have stood since before the Civil War, a point of pride for many of its residents, who welcome visitors with a sign that touts what they believe Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant said on his way to capture Vicksburg — “Port Gibson — A Town Too Beautiful to Burn.”

Hall indicated the decision to make the highway run through Port Gibson ignores its history.

“The Union army thought the town was too beautiful to burn. I guess (unnamed MDOT officials) think it’s ugly enough to bring a road through it and trash it,” he said.

Heavy traffic has already taken its toll on Port Gibson United Methodist Church, which, about 10 years ago, spent $100,000 to stabilize the bell tower, damaged from traffic vibrations, Ellis said. Other churches along the stretch often have breaks in Sunday services to wait for loud trucks to go by. The seven churches and one synagogue that line the street on both sides are also close to the curbed street, leaving questions about their fate looming among people opposed to the planned route. The closest, St. James Episcopal Church, is only 19-feet from the curb.

The existing four-laning of Church Street dates to 1959, but the plans would require a fifth lane to be added as a turning lane, Ellis said. In other areas, where no four-lane exists, three lanes would have to be added, which undoubtedly would require trees, houses and businesses to go. The two miles that stretch between the two-lane portion of the street past downtown and where the four-lane begins is dotted with signs of life — a playground, a storage building, lakes, a church — all of which are at risk of vanishing, Ellis said.

“Once it’s done, there’s no going back,” she said.

Ellis pointed to a line in a letter she sent outlining the committee’s mission and asking for support from the community: “We are not going down without a fight.”

“I’m very upset over it. I don’t know why they have to go down Church Street in Port Gibson. They’ve bypassed Fayette and Natchez and Vicksburg,” Spencer said from her front yard, where oak trees and tall bushes planted 20 years ago act as a noise barrier from the street. “I don’t know where I’ll go. I sure don’t want to move at my age.”